Jealous attack unfolds over heart-shaped note

JEALOUSY propelled a young Mackay man to attack his girlfriend over suspicions she was cheating.

Ricky James Boyd slammed her head into the floor after he saw her slip a heart-shaped note under the bedroom door of their male housemate.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard the 24-year-old had been "on the cusp" of being jailed for his behaviour on November 30 last year.

First he confronted his then-girlfriend of two years and accused her of cheating.

Trying to avoid him, she cowered on the ground with her head down. Boyd demanded she look at him and she refused.

"The victim became hysterical and started to scream," Prosecutor Chelsea Pearson said. "She has then felt pressure... (he was) pushing her head down and causing (it) to strike the tile with force, cutting her forehead causing it to bleed."

Boyd, who has no criminal history, saw the blood and was immediately remorseful, helping the girl off the ground and tending to the wound.

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

Ms Pearson argued jail could be imposed even for a first time offence if the conduct was violent enough.

"I considered imprisonment but the alternative to imprisonment if you're on the cusp, which you are, is community service," Magistrate Damien Dwyer said.

Defence solicitor Antoinette Morton, of Fisher Dore Lawyers, said it was a single incident and her young client stopped immediately and was remorseful. He was upfront with police.

The court heard Boyd had a good work history and had entered an early plea.

Ms Morton told the court the victim had sent a "personal" photo of Boyd to his friends and he would be speaking with police about that.